Hello, Tom!
by pleurocoelus
Summary: When Lord Voldemort goes to kill young Harry Potter, he encounters resistance from the person he least expected, the young child himself. A story of time travel, its cause, and its aftermath.


_A/N: I was working on the next chapter of "On a Mission from God" when I found this story I had written a while back. Hope you like it._

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The front door of the Potters' house burst open with a flash of light and James Potter realized that his worst nightmare had come true. Voldemort had discovered their hiding place. Time seemed to slow as he began to run to the other room cursing himself for not having his wand on his person. Suddenly, the Dark intruder was slammed backwards against the wall and was held there as though by an invisible hand. As James turned, his mind raced wondering if it were Lily who had caught Voldemort by surprise or if a friend had somehow entered their house without his knowledge. James turned around and was surprised to see his son standing there lowering his hand from the wandless magic he had just worked.

"Hello, Tom," came the adult-sounding voice from Harry's young mouth. "You're just as ugly as I remember you being."

James collapsed onto the floor and stared in disbelief as Harry rose into the air and leisurely floated over to look the Dark Lord in the eyes.

"Tom, I'm afraid I can't let you kill my parents. Your reign of terror ends today."

A wandless _expelliarmus_ and the Dark Lord's wand sailed into Harry's tiny hand, then crumbled into dust.

With a flick of his hand, Harry said one word: "_Legilimens_."

The man who was once Tom Riddle screamed silently as Harry Potter invaded his mind in a less-than-gentle manner. In an instant, Harry ripped from Voldemort's mind the identities of all of his followers. Pushing through the bond forged by the Dark Mark, Harry invaded their minds one by one. His first choice was the traitor, Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew's weak mind was breached without even the slightest effort. Without a hint of remorse, Harry forced Pettigrew to transform himself into a rat, then destroyed the Animagus' conscious mind. Pettigrew would spend the rest of his days believing himself to be an actual rat.

Harry's next target was Lucius Malfoy. Harry paused to ponder his course of action. If he had more time, Harry would appreciate rewiring Malfoy's brain to make him into a kind man. Unfortunately, Harry had a limited amount of time in which to work. Therefore, Harry planted a series of irresistible suggestions into the Malfoy patriarch's mind. Lucius would amend his will giving Draco's custody to Narcissa's sister Andromeda Tonks should he and Narcissa perish. Lucius would then discreetly kill Bellatrix Lestrange along with her husband Rodolphus and his brother Rabastan. Harry saw that Malfoy secretly despised the three of them so it was not difficult for Harry to force Lucius to dispose of them. Harry paused to consider what to do with Narcissa. She was not actually a marked Death Eater so he could not use the connection of the Dark Mark to invade her mind. Harry saw in Lucius' memories that Narcissa had not actually participated in the atrocities against Muggles and Muggleborns that her husband had. Nevertheless, she had fully supported them and had participated in a host of other crimes. That knowledge sealed her fate. The day after Lucius killed the Lestranges, he would dose his wife with Veritaserum, then take her to the Ministry where they would confess all of their crimes to Alastor Moody personally.

One by one, Harry invaded the minds of the Death Eaters, compelling them to fully confess their crimes to the Aurors. If asked why they confessed, they were to reply that they felt remorse for what they had done and wished to make amends. He made sure that they staggered their arrivals and varied their words to avoid raising suspicions beyond what the Death Eaters' incredible change of heart would already do. Harry was amused that this irresistible and undetectable tampering was made possible by the Dark Mark that Voldemort's followers had willingly taken.

Finally, only one Death Eater remained - Severus Snape. Harry was unsure of how to proceed with Snape. Despite the Death Eater's already prodigious skill as a Legilimens, Harry was able to penetrate his mind with ease. Snape's "love" for Lily was stunted and juvenile, in keeping with the petty jealousies that filled his emotions. Harry could not bring himself to harm the man who had informed Dumbledore of Voldemort's plan to kill Lily, but neither could he leave untouched the man who had told Voldemort of the prophecy in the first place. Harry pushed further into Snape's mind and began shifting and rearranging connections. He couldn't make Snape into a paragon of virtue or a beacon of happiness, but he could make the man at least a little more pleasant. While looking around, Harry noticed an imbalance in Snape's brain that might contribute to the man's surly disposition. He redirected Snape's magic to compensate for the imbalance in a way that Muggle pharmaceuticals or even potions never could. After a final look around Snape's mind, Harry implanted a deep-seated revulsion toward the Dark Arts and a compulsion to accept Lily's marriage to James Potter. He then removed Snape's Dark Mark - severing his connection with the former Death Eater.

With all of Voldemort's followers dealt with, Harry turned his attention to the self-proclaimed Dark Lord. He poked around, relishing the powerful Dark Wizard's comparative weakness. Finally, Harry decided to finish the job he had come to do. Summoning every ounce of magical strength he had, Harry Potter crushed Tom Riddle's magical core, transforming the former Dark Lord into that which he despised the most - a Muggle. As Riddle's Magic left him, the Horcruxes that were to bind his soul to this world became mundane again. Tom Riddle was now mortal and incapable of creating any more Horcruxes. Before leaving Riddle's mind, Harry put the former Dark Lord into a coma.

Harry's foray into the minds of Riddle and his followers had not taken much time outside the mental plane, yet it had been enough time for Lily Potter to arrive in the room with her wand drawn. Harry turned to face his parents and allowed his vanquished foe to crumple to the floor.

Harry could not meet James and Lily's eyes as he faced them and said in a remorseful tone: "I'm sorry it had to be this way."

Lily pointed her wand at Harry (who was still floating in the air) and said: "Who are you?"

Harry lifted his eyes to look at his mother and sighed before replying. "Mum, I'm your son... Harry James Potter. I'm from the future. I have temporarily taken control of my younger body to save your lives and stop Voldemort. I come from a future where you died today. Where Voldemort vanished, but eventually returned. Where everyone and everything I care about was destroyed in his mad quest for power. Words can't express how bad things are where I come from. The Light had all but lost, and not just in Britain. The last few of us pooled our power to allow me to make this intervention. I don't have much time left, I can feel my hold of my younger self's body slipping. Don't worry, he won't remember any of this and it will have no effect on his development."

Harry saw that his father was still on the floor and that his mother had joined him there. He floated over to them and sat on the floor in front of them. When Lily reached for him, he lifted his arms and allowed her to tightly embrace him. Lily heard her son weep, not the tears of a toddler, but the sobs of a grown man.

"Mum... how I've longed for that my whole life. I know you loved me, but I couldn't remember what that felt like. Now my younger self will get to know that love."

Harry finally released his mother from the hug and addressed them again. "I must ask you not to share what I did here with anyone except Sirius and Remus. Tell me when I'm old enough if you wish, but please do not tell anyone else.

"If you must tell Dumbledore, wait a week before you do. He means well, but he meddles too much. He might not understand why I needed to do this and somehow try to undo what I've done. If you don't already know, Dumbledore is a powerful Legilimens. Avoid looking him in the eye and learn Occlumency if you haven't already.

"All the Death Eaters will be turning themselves in and telling all to the Aurors within the next week. It's imperative that Dumbledore or anyone else not interfere with this. Now all the children of Britain can grow up without fear, especially the Muggleborn. Don't worry about the traitor Pettigrew either. He's stuck in his Animagus form forever.

"I must ask that you don't spoil me. I know a few spoiled rich kids who became absolutely evil, not that you'd let me become that bad. Now Dad, Don't give me that look. I know that you were a bit of an arrogant prat when you were younger and I'd rather not be one myself."

With this, Lily lost composure and began laughing while James put on a mock hurt expression.

"James, only a bit of a prat? Harry, you don't know the half."

James puffed out his chest and replied: "I'll have you know that I did eventually grow up." His tone became serious. "Don't worry, Harry. We won't let you repeat my mistakes if we can help it."

Harry felt his mind slipping into wherever it was headed. He looked at his parents and spoke his final wish to them: "One last thing. I want siblings. Lots of them."

Harry felt his mother place his hand on her obviously pregnant stomach. "We've already started on that. Meet your little sister."

Harry's eyes filled with tears as he told his parents and unborn sibling that he loved them. As his mind faded, he heard his parents confessing their love for him.

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_A/N: __The next chapter will be set in the original timeline to give you a bit of context and background. I have not written it yet and I don't know when I will, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Any chapters after that will be set in the altered timeline. _


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